By Brendan Rees
Jason has been camping at the Salvation Army in Cranbourne for nearly two weeks.
He says with a lack of crisis centres in Casey he’s had nowhere else to go.
“I’m on the housing commission waiting list but I’ve been on that for nine years now … and I’m still waiting,” Jason said, who asked not to publish his surname.
He refuses to stay at boarding houses because the conditions, he says, were often “rough” and “getting more expensive.”
“If you feel uncomfortable you have go back out on the streets.”
At last week’s Casey Council meeting on 16 July, mayor Amanda Stapledon successfully moved a motion to consider a pop-up shelter model currently being trialled in Brisbane for people experiencing homelessness.
The model called ‘Beddown’ aims to utilise spaces often left empty at night, where people are provided a bed in a safe and secure environment.
Charitable organisations would also help with laundry, showers, food, and clothing as well as a visit from a doctor and dentist, she said.
The council has its eye on transforming car parks, church buildings, community halls and other sites in Casey into pop-up shelters.
“This model is a very, very sound one and one I think can bring the whole community together and take stress off other agencies that are trying to do so much,” she said.
“It’s just about the will of people to want to participate and offer up their services, their facilities when they’re not in use overnight.”
Cranbourne Information and Support Service executive officer Leanne Petridis said although she favoured longer term housing solutions she recognised the need to “address the reality of people sleeping rough right now.”
“I do believe that providing people with a safe, secure shelter out of the elements at night along with other supports such as food and mattresses will keep them safer, warmer and drier, and possibly help link them into other services,” she said.
Kelly Jose of the Salvation Army in Cranbourne said many people experiencing homelessness were forced to camp at the centre’s carpark in New Holland Drive.
“Without a doubt something needs to be done with housing … every second person I think that comes in here, have had issues with some housing in some form or another,” she said.
According to the Council to Homeless Persons CEO Jenny Smith “too often” there wasn’t a safe option for homeless women who were “vulnerable to the risks of sleeping rough, or of staying in unsafe housing options like rooming houses, where they are vulnerable to physical and sexual assault.
WAYYS CEO Elizabeth Thomas, said during 2018-19 they supported 4,950 cases of people faced with homelessness in Casey and Cardinia.
“We know that the key to ending the housing and homelessness crisis is to increase access to affordable, safe and secure housing with one-to-one wrap around support services,” she said.
A report will come back to council by 31 December.
If you are experiencing or at risk of homelessness, you can ring the 24-hour Victorian hotline for assistance 1800 825 955.
